Here is some dev comments, if more arise in the thread, I'll post them here so you guys don't have to scroll the whole thread for them.

Just want to remind you that clothing and armor is not tied to profession in Guild Wars 2. The first image is comparing a Mesmer in the original Guild Wars to a human character wearing a similar outfit in Guild Wars 2, but this comparison has absolutely no bearing on the second woman's profession. Remember: we are also having town clothes, which allows players to further customize the look of their character. The second character in this picture is not wearing armor, but town clothing. This picture was meant to show you how the technology has advanced from Guild Wars to Guild Wars 2.

This is the idea. Believe me, I've had many discussions with Kristen about variety and providing options for female characters that are not only chain mail bikini type armors. They're going for variety--so people who enjoy having their characters wear those "impractical", revealing armors will be able to do that, and those of us who prefer having their characters all armored up will also have options. The screenshot of the various women and men wearing revealing vs. covered armors was meant to show the variety that exists for players.

I understand that many players feel that armor should be practical, realistic, and shouldn’t leave skin exposed to attack. When coming up with ideas for armor, the character and concept department try to balance the practical with the fantasy. We make armor that looks protective and functional, but we also make armor that looks sexy and shows a generous level of strategically placed skin. We recognize the “fantasy” aspect of our game; if you are able to rain down balls of fire from the sky, your clothing should not be a factor when it comes to body temperature, whether you are wearing your underwear or a fur coat.

^ Thank god someone finally said something about this, you can stop bitching about how impractical it is now!

Looking at the side-by-side comparison of those five medium-armor outfits makes me feel more that dye is a bigger factor in whether sets blend. All of those armor pieces look so different, but the dye system has allowed them to combine in a very appealing way.

Currently, we’re refining our body and face customization system. I want you to know that Guild Wars 2 will have face customization that lets you modify your features and a body-shape system that gives you control over your character’s proportions. We’ll talk about customization in greater depth in the future, but rest assured that it’s a key element of character creation.

Edit: TPAM:"Currently, we’re refining our body and face customization system. I want you to know that Guild Wars 2 will have face customization that lets you modify your features and a body-shape system that gives you control over your character’s proportions. We’ll talk about customization in greater depth in the future, but rest assured that it’s a key element of character creation."

We are also introducing the ability to have one piece of armor replace multiple pieces. For example, if your human warrior has an elaborate coat with built-in shoulders and helmet, this is available as one piece and replaces the three pieces on your body. This principle also works with full outfits. Designing armor this way allows us to create outfits that don’t have to adhere to the modular design, allowing for greater diversity.

Definitely interesting, should make certain armor designs have very smooth transitions and look great. I wonder though, how stats will work for these armor pieces?

I want you to know that Guild Wars 2 will have face customization that lets you modify your features and a body-shape system that gives you control over your character’s proportions.

Awesome! Looks like we'll be getting an insane amount of customization

Since having 100 colors on just 6 pieces of armor (1 channel only, not even 3) results in 1,000,000,000,000 (Yes, 1 TRILLION) different color possibilities (That's with a single set of armor ), that means that's without changing colors.

Can anybody off the top of their head calculate how many different armor sets you'd need to get a billion using those figures?

I'm thinking it's about 32. Except that doesn't take into account pieces that cover multiple parts, but I'll just pretend it's 32 sets of 6 armor pieces each for simplicity sake?

In Guild Wars 2, professions will not be as visually distinct. Instead, we’re dividing up the appearance by weight class. For instance, if you’re a warrior, you share the heavy armor class with the guardian (so far).

Only 2 soldiers, warrior and guardian so what's with "(so far)"? Hinting at expansion pack new professions already?

edit: And ElexAio, ANet has said they plan on adding races and possibly more professions in expansions. With only 1 profession per character instead of 2, they say it will be much easier to balance them (whereas with races you just add content and don't have to worry too much about balance, since racial skills aren't quite as significant).

I see they've still kept some recognisable armour from GW1 and re-designed it for GW2.

I am a little saddened that I won't be able to easily distinguish between an Elementalist and a Necromancer anymore, but hey, now that Eles naturally give off an element depending on what they are attuned to, it won't be such a huge problem.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I and other players will do with armour.